Tweak

InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Tommy, can you hear me?"

Bellum Anon (bellum_anon) wrote in bellumlogs,
@ 2010-05-18 10:00:00

Entry tags:

jim hawkins, meg giry, plot: riddles, rapunzel

Group F: Rapunzel, Jim Hawkins, Maid Marian, Meg Giry

The plaque on the wall says:

What an odd courthouse to find yourself at rest,
But a pirate's life is no joke, no jest,
So perhaps the three maids will find a way
To convince the jury to let him go where he may.
Maids, gentle though ye be,
Tell the lads a tale raucous to set the pirate free,
Or else let us hope he will stay afloat,
And does not fear the end of a rope.

An oversize courthouse that smells of lemon polish and hard benches. Russell is firmly behind the defendant's traditional seat, but he's chained there and there's no moving him. The doors to the courthouse are secured. Twelve shadows in the shape of men are watching Russell from their seats in the box; another shadow with a booming voice is on the bench. There is, thankfully, no prosecutor.

Any of the three women can tell any combination of twelve stories from the witness box. They don't have to be true, but they do need to be bawdy, a la The Canterbury Tales. After each tale a juror will evaporate; after the twelfth, the judge will also vanish, and Russell's chains will release. The courthouse doors will open simultaneously.

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themegazord
2010-05-19 12:26 am UTC (link)

Yeah well, when one was in the middle of an intense session on his new Red Dead Redemption game and then tilts his head back in frustration, they should have been able to return back to the game so he could end up at his last saved point.

Instead, the room was suddenly brighter, his chair beneath his rump felt different and...he couldn't get up. Russell was in a courtroom! And tied to the defendant's chair if he was right, he noted, swiveling his head around. What was most disturbing was the shadowy unrecognizable people in the jury and judge areas, like he was on trial or something. "Hey!" he cried to the girls near him. "Can one of you get me out of this?" he begged, wriggling his arms for effect.

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judicatory
2010-05-19 12:50 am UTC (link)

When Isabella said she dreamed of one day becoming a lawyer, this wasn't exactly what she had in mind. Especially when the looming shadows of the court are more reminiscent of a nightmare than a dream and she was never asleep to begin with. But she must have drifted off sometime between going over a few files for work and making a mental note to demand a secretary's salary rather than a receptionist's, for the work she was doing, because suddenly being transported from the privacy of one's living room to a public arena was just something that didn't happen in Isabella's world.

Upon hearing a male voice cry for assistance, Isabella's gaze turned to a man sitting in the defendant's seat. She was on the verge of informing him that no she could not, not without a fair trial at the very least, when she realized he was chained to the chair. Now, Isabella was a fan of law and order, but not when it violated a man's right to a fair hearing without being tied up like an animal.

Quickly, she turned to the judge and opened her mouth to protest the treatment of the defendant before snapping it shut and mentally chastising herself when a faceless shadow stared back at her. Dropping to her knees behind the chained man, her hands nimbly examined silver links, unable to find a way of undoing their hold. "What's your name? You haven't killed anyone, have you?" she asked, almost conversationally, unable to find any other reason for this level of restrainment. Handcuffs would do just fine.

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ex_peepshows656
2010-05-19 09:22 am UTC (link)

After a long night of work, partaking in any aspect of the justice system was really the last thing on James' list. She'd stepped through the doorway of her empty, dark apartment and hadn't even kicked out of her lucite, precariously high heels before making her way blindly to the kitchen, zombie-style. She'd been dancing for what felt like twelve hours and everything ached as she shimmied fawn, freckled shoulders out of her leather bomber. Prying a beer from the fridge, James collapsed on the arm of her decadent, velveteen couch. Eyes blissfully closed, head tilted back, silence seeping into her glitter dusted skin. The last thought before she opened her eyes was that she wished Lotte was here.

After that, best friend drama was really the last thing on her mind. While James had never set foot in an actual courtroom, she'd seen plenty on Law & Order, and therefore recognized the polished wood and the jury box. She knew that drinking probably was frowned upon in this setting, but when she glanced down at her hand, the beer bottle she'd been sipping on earlier was gone. Although whether her black vinyl hot pants and fishnets were appropriate for a court of law, who was to say. As long as she wasn't the one being charged..

It was fairly comfortable, and easy for her to determine that she'd fallen asleep and was now dreaming. She didn't recognize the other two women, or the man who was bound to his chair. He looked a little uneasy, and she raised her eyebrows at his question that they bust him out of there. "Sorry, I left my handcuff keys in my bedside table." True story, although from this angle even James could tell that he had a great deal more going on than just simple handcuffs.

She surveyed the courtroom for a moment before moving toward the blond girl who was reading the plaque on the wall, "What's that?"

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nineteen_stars
2010-05-19 06:21 pm UTC (link)

"And I don't do bondage, sorry!" Isobel chirped towards the one that was chained up and the one that was trying to help. Then her attention was drawn back towards the plaque as James drew up beside her. "It looks to be some sort of riddle. And if I'm thinkin' correctly..." She trailed off, giving the plaque her back as she looked back towards Isabella and Russel. "Us three girls need to tell some sort of story if we want to get him free."

There was a pause, and then a tilt of his head. "What in the world did you do to get locked up over there anyways, mister? Because I know this place is weird and all, but... they don't go chainin' up innocent people. Do they?"

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themegazord
2010-05-19 06:30 pm UTC (link)

Russell really resented the idea presented by the girls that he was some sort of evil murderer or something. Sure he stole money and information with the power of intelligence and a few keystrokes but he never killed anybody. Difference! Totally doesn't make him a bad guy, see? Stupid shadowy figures.

Rolling his eyes at their albeit gentle accusations, he offered his rebuttal. "I'm not a criminal! Last thing I remember I was at home playing this really awesome western video game and then WHOOSH I'm here!" He rattled the chains again, hoping for sympathy. Hearing Blonde 1's suggestion on getting him free, he perked up. "Whatever it takes, do it! Cause I'd like to go home now. Also my name is not Killer or Mister, it's Russell." His nose itched, but since his hands were bound, all he could do was wrinkle his nose and inwardly whine.

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ex_peepshows656
2010-05-19 11:07 pm UTC (link)

James positioned herself before the plaque, subtly nudging the young blond a bit out of the way so that she could read it better. She wrinkled her nose in distaste while skimming the words three or four times, lowering the thick fringe of false babydoll lashes in a surveyor's squint. Although, how she could read anything with that much glitter and kohl caked around her eyes was a mystery.

Finally, the dancer stepped back with a muddled frown, "What the hell does raucous mean?" Manicured bling queen nails set akimbo on that scrap of black vinyl that had the audacity to call itself shorts, and she stared at the others with a severity that said somebody better know.

James wasn't exactly Lil' Miss SAT scholar, but she sure as hell wasn't going to stay in this wrecked up dreamland forever. She wanted out just as much as the man -- Russell, was it? -- in the chains probably did.

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nineteen_stars
2010-05-19 11:40 pm UTC (link)

When James nudged her out of the way, a brow shot up in the air, and she was quick to step a bit further away. Eyes swept up and down the girl, and Isobel knew it was better to not say what went through her mind. It wasn't her place to judge, after all

"I'm not sure what it means," Isobel answered James honestly, shoulders shrugging up as she folded her arms across her chest. Next to James, she was pretty sure she looked awfully plain in just the black tank and grey yoga pants she had worn for bed. "It sounds like a noisy word, but I'm not really positive about that. You have any idea, Russel? Or how 'bout that gal tryin' to free you. Do you know?"

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themegazord
2010-05-20 01:41 am UTC (link)

Russell's eyes widened considerably at their confessions. Normally he would have been sputtering and stumbling over three pretty girls in front of him, the one glittered girl especially not helping. However, the combination of his being chained up and their apparent stupidity at such a simple word was enough distraction to keep his eyes on the prize of freedom.

"Are you kidding me? Raucous means rowdy or disorderly. So you gotta do or say something vulgar and then...I dunno. We see what happens." He preferred to keep his true level of intelligence to himself, but now was definitely not the time and he was very much willing to risk that in this case.

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judicatory
2010-05-20 02:57 am UTC (link)

After considerable tugging to no avail, Isabella stood and patted poor boy on the shoulder almost apologetically. "Sorry, Russell, but it looks like you're going to have to sit there for now. And my name is Isabella," she said, the last sentence mainly directed towards the other blonde girl in the room.

With an inward roll of her eyes, Isabella made her way to the other two girls to read the writing on the wall. If they didn't know the words on the plaque meant, who knows what else they could have missed? She took notice of the brunette's styling choices with slight amusement and a hint of envy that whatever she must have been doing must have been far more interesting than Isabella's night as she peered over her shoulder.

Her lips pursed and an eyebrow rose upon reading the poem. Recalling those nights of too many tequila shots and bad decisions in a room full of jurors wasn't something she was thrilled about, but "Well, what the hell," she figured tersely. "Do they have to be based on first hand experiences?" It wasn't as if it would do much damage if figments of her imagination knew of those moments she made sure never made their way to Facebook; because technically, they'd already know anyway. But still, Isabella wasn't sure she could remember them all in the drunken haze they had occurred in.

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ex_peepshows656
2010-05-20 04:37 am UTC (link)

The clouded storm of her eyes centered on Russell, maraschino painted mouth drawing to one side in such an obvious lapse in amusement. If he needed her help, he sure as hell didn't need to get uppity about the fact that she didn't know what one word meant. She ran her tongue between Crest kid teeth and considered the plaque. "Something vulgar?"

Her smile was immediate, and she shot Russell a wink of pure sizzle and spice. "You're in luck." Although what her raucous tales had to do with the pirate's crimes, she hadn't the faintest idea. Maybe his offenses would pale in comparison to whatever bawdy sins the girls could share. When one of the blond women asked, with what James perceived to be as an element of worry, whether or not the stories had to be true.. she gave a bored exhale and pressed forward. "None of us know one another anyway, who gives a shit?"

Then, the dancer positively flounced to the witness box in those six inch clear heels. Pulling herself up onto the stand itself with an unholy cross of endless, fishnet legs as she prepared to recant. "The first night I was in New York, I'm talkin' not an hour after I was off the train, I swung by this cantina named Coco's off of 14th street. And after two or three of their bucket-sized margaritas and the best fuckin'--"

James hesitated in her ramble, giving an embarrassed expression to the jurors as if it mattered that she'd just cursed in this court of law when she was already sitting on the witness stand in hot pants and stripper shoes. Grimacing in gentle amusement, she continued," .. tacos al pastor, the waitress asked me to go home with her. So I did, I mean she was gorgeous, and one thing to led to another. I still can't remember how I ended up in rollerskates and an Apache headdress, but.. anyway, some boyfriend came home and the waitress panicked, shoved me out onto the fire escape while I was naked a jay-bird."

She raised her hands with an easy smile, "And that's how I spent my first night in the city. Sixteen stories up, in a feathered headdress and not a stitch of clothes, watchin' the sun rise."

James hadn't actually expected anything to happen after completing her story, but when one of the jurors vanished, she made a small sound of surprise. Not a puff of smoke or anything, the man was just gone in the blink of an eye. She raised a wary eyebrow and slowly extracted herself from the stand. "Well, then."

She tilted her head on her walk back toward the others, "Next, ladies.."

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judicatory
2010-05-21 01:37 pm UTC (link)

Isabella listened to the brunette's story with a trace of her smile on her lips as nostalgia wafted her back to her college days, when it was socially acceptable for classmates to gather around and share exactly these types of stories on Monday mornings. Once you grew any older and you were immediately labeled slut, party girl, alcoholic. So despite all her intellectual snobbery, Isabella could never bring herself to fully condemn young actresses such as Lindsay Lohan or the Olsen twins. They were young and they wanted to have fun. Isabella could understand that. Although, personally, she would probably try to keep it a bit more discreet. Being discreet had always helped her (and her father) in the past, but it didn't much help her now.

When one shadow of a juror disappeared into a wisp, a pair of immaculately plucked eyebrows raised and Isabella felt she better understood the task at hand. With another mental pump of 'Well, what the hell, Isabella," she followed in hot heels' suit and stepped into the witness stand while her mind raced through a rolodex of parties and nights out. Finally, she settled on one.

"So, it was the last week of college," she began, "Graduation was in a few days and we had just finished finals. My last final had been Bio and I'd put it off until the last semester of my last year because I'd hated it so much in high school." She shrugged sheepishly, knowing it hadn't been her smartest academic decision.

"Anyway, I hadn't been doing well in the class and I was sure that I hadn't done much better on the final, so some of my girlfriends and I decided to go out and blow off some steam and celebrate the year being over. In between all the drinks and shots of tequila, I remember cursing Mr. Skellington, the model skeleton we had in our class, and Dr. Delacroix, my bio professor. The rest of the night was a blur, but I woke up with a skeleton from one of the bio labs under my arm, five outgoing calls on my cellphone to Dr. Delacroix, and wearing nothing but underwear and fifteen candy necklaces. Only two of them were around my neck. Somehow, I still passed the class."

Her lips twitched when a second shadow evaporated and hopped off the witness seat. "Your turn," she directed towards the other blonde.

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nineteen_stars
2010-05-21 06:27 pm UTC (link)

While listening to their tales, Isobel couldn't help but wonder what sort of people she had gotten herself wrapped up with in here. Not that she was really one to talk, however, given the antics she had involved herself in since leaving that little town in Louisiana she called home. "Fine, fine," Isobel said as she relented, casting the other three a glance before she hauled herself up and took a seat behind the witness stand.

"One night, when I was still livin' at home, these two people got stranded not far from our house and needed a place to stay until someone could look at their car the next morning. They were good lookin' people and seemed honest and nice enough, so I decided to let them stay. Mama didn't want them to, but that's another story that's really not all that interesting." She paused, tucking her hair behind her ear.

"Well, I made up a bed for them and showed them where the towels were, and honestly, I had every intention of just goin' on to bed myself and puttin' them out of my mind. They seemed to have other ideas though. I went in to check on them before I shut the lights out, and there they were, naked as the day they were born, and doin' things that I couldn't even describe at the time." There was a cough, gaze off to the side. "He spoke some nice words to me and she took hold of my hand and led me into the room, and well... one thing lead to another and let's just say none of us got much sleep that night. Now I know you might not think it's a big deal, but I hadn't even thought of sex until I met those two, so it was pretty big and wild for me."

Tucking her hair back again, she hauled herself up from the stand and looked up in time to see one of the shadow jury disappearing. "Guess they approved," Isobel said with a quirk of her lips, gesturing over to James.

"Your turn again, girlie."

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themegazord
2010-05-21 10:00 pm UTC (link)

Russell, meanwhile squirmed in his chair while he waited for the girls to hurry up and tell their tales. His cheeks were turning bright red at their stories. He was by no means a prude but at the same time it didn't mean he was in all the ways of the world's seedy underbelly. So he remained silent and waited for the girls to get rid of the spooky ghostlike creatures posing as members of a jury.

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ex_peepshows656
2010-05-22 05:57 am UTC (link)

James' smile only grew with each tale shared by the other girls. Isobel's earned a wide grin and a laugh barely disguised behind the cusp of her manicured palm - threesome, nice touch. She'd never had much luck with blonds, and worked with enough to not think very highly of them, but these two seemed alright. They certainly had a fair share of interesting stories to tell. Or, they better at least have more than one a piece if they planned on getting this alleged pirate loose from his shackles.

"Alright," she accepted the challenge of another bawdy secret to be shared, passing Isobel on the girl's way down from the witness stand. Rather than bother with taking a seat, James leaned against the stand and rolled her bluebonnet eyes toward the ceiling. "Let's see.."

"High school, senior year. I had the reputation of being quite the stuck-up little bitch. It was my second school that year, and I had no interest whatsoever in dating any of those meatheads. So, of course, I was called prude, and ice queen, and frigid, and virgin every time I turned around. And one day, on my way to my car, one of those boys actually had the balls to call me some of those names right in my face.."

James smiled sweetly, reliving the memory, "So I threw my books down and I swear he went white, thinking I was gonna punch his lights out. But I just stripped outta my clothes and ran half a mile 'round the quad in my underwear, with the sprinklers goin' full tilt. And you never saw so many jaws layin' on the ground by the time I circled back, picked up my clothes, and went on to my car like it didn't phase me a bit. Of course, I got suspended for four days and missed an English Lit final, but it was worth it." Her eyes went expectantly toward the jury box, and sure enough, another shadowy figure evaporated. She raised an eyebrow at Lady Skellington on her way down from the stand, as if to say, you're up.

With this downtime, she took a lean against the defendant's chair, examining the severity of his chains. Impressive. "Pirate, huh?" He didn't have an eyepatch or a peg leg, some pirate.

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judicatory
2010-05-22 02:33 pm UTC (link)

A critical eyebrow raised while her lips twisted to the side in amusement. Isabella had difficulty believing those sinfully red lips or fishnetted legs were ever prude and virginal, but she supposed that she wasn't the same girl she had been in high school either.

As the brunette made her way down from the witness stand, Isabella stood obligingly and took her place in the box. She felt she was starting to grow accustomed to this odd little ritual. There was a slight pause before she started her story. "I used to date an environmentalist. He was really passionate about conserving wildlife and he was one of those guys who chained himself to trees to stop people from knocking down trees," she recalled as a fond smile graced her face in memory of her former love.

"When the government tried to bulldoze a park to turn it into a parking lot, he got all up in arms and tied himself to the biggest tree on the lot. It was his birthday and I didn't think he should be spending it alone, so I stopped by to give him a present." The last word was stressed and laced with racier undertones.

"So, there I was, giving my boyfriend his birthday present while I was in my birthday suit when the bulldozers showed up." Laughter spilled out of her as she shrugged halfheartedly. "At least they left the tree alone."

Green eyes immediately turned to the jurors, where there was one less figure in the box. With a satisfied smile, Isabella hopped off the seat and joined the other members of their rambunctious little group.

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nineteen_stars
2010-05-22 10:15 pm UTC (link)

She couldn't help but giggle quietly at the stories the other two girls shared, feeling that her own adventures weren't so bad in comparison. "Not tryin' to be rude, but your stories don't surprise me," she said, pointing in James' direction, "But you? I never woulda guessed you capable of something like that!" Isobel let out another laugh and trailed up towards the stand again, and instead of taking a seat, she trailed a hand along the wooden rail, fingers tickling the smooth wood.

"I spent a lot of time traveling after I left home, and one thing led to another and I ended up on this ranch in Wyoming after this cute cowboy type picked me up and offered me a place to stay. He was real sweet, real gentlemanly and all 'yes ma'am', 'no ma'am', and given where I had come from, that kind of thing was real nice to see." She hummed for a moment, then shifted, leaning back against the railing to face the other three and the jury.

"I don't think that boy had ever been with a girl in his life judging by the look on his face when I visited him in his room one night to pay him back for giving me a place to stay. Trust me, if you've never had a guy say "yes ma'mam" while you're playin' cowgirl atop him, I recommend you give it a try, because seriously, there ain't nothing sweeter than that."

A dainty little curtsy was given and she relinquished the stand once more, passing by the defendant's stand and trailing a hand over Russell's chains before taking a seat off to the side.

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judicatory
2010-05-24 02:23 am UTC (link)

One by one, the shadowy figures disappeared with what was left of the girls' virtue as they continued to rattle off stories befitting the sort of comedy mothers and critics deemed too filthy and crass to have been released to the general public. As the judge evaporated into a wisp, there was a deafening (and welcome) clack of locks unlatching followed by a swoosh as the doors swung open, as if pushed by a phantom force.

Finally graced with the option of leaving the courtroom if she wished, Isabella turned to her fellow former captives with a smile of relief to see that the metal links holding Russell to his chair had slackened. Despite her affinity for men in chains, she was never one to leave them in their restraints and she helped Russell free himself from the chair before taking advantage of the room's gracious opportunity to leave.

Having been expecting step out into the long, somber hallways of a courthouse, Isabella was somewhat taken by surprise when she entered the lobby of Bellum Letale. "Well, I guess that's that, then," she remarked with a small sense of loss that this part of her particularly realistic dream had come to an end, but looked forward to what else her subconscious had in store for her tonight. With a slight, sideways smile of a kinship that unwittingly occurred when one experiences unnatural events with a group of strangers, Isabella, well aware by this point of the infamous stubbornness of the elevator, headed up the staircase to the sixth floor.

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